When we first started referring to women’s homelessness as “hidden”, we only had an anecdotal view of what this means for women and largely limited to the population Basis Yorkshire work with, namely sex workers and those who are sexually exploited; albeit a community over-represented in hidden homelessness data. Every day our colleagues hear accounts of women rough sleeping, are told of their reasons for becoming homeless and their experiences while rough sleeping; often including experiences of violence and re-traumatization. We were therefore excited to bring together key partners in Leeds as part of the national initiative to conduct a week-long, national census of women sleeping rough (alongside 40 others local authorities across England. While it only offers a weeks’ snapshot and cannot truly capture all the women who are rough sleeping nor or all their experiences, it has given us an essential set of data with more insights than ever before.

In late September 2023 a total of 50 women were surveyed as rough sleeping, significantly higher than the street count data on women identify; the census also offered data on the extent, numbers and locations of women rough sleeping. The data clearly showed that women often feel unsafe to stay in one place and seek out other people, evidenced by the locations women mentioned “sleeping” in: walking around all night, A&E, McDonalds, bus or train or with a stranger.  It also illustrated the risk of exclusion and the need for a more gender informed service and pathway design given the different survival strategies women adopt.

While ever women are less visible in places where and when the current street count happens, their numbers are not included, with critical consequences for appropriate allocation of resources and design of services.  As their needs are registered differently and their rough sleeping experience does not meet the Government definition, their needs are less likely to be met and pathways to support are more challenging.

Moya Woolven (Basis Yorkshire CEO): “I would like to thank all the women who took part in the survey and as an organisation we will continue to share its findings and challenge gender inequity in homelessness to do justice to their input and that of all the organisations that took part. We look forward to being a part of it again later this year”.

Download the full Leeds Women’s Rough Sleeping Census Report here:

The national coalition of leading women’s and homelessness organisations and local authorities around England who were part of the National Census across 41 different locations in England are now calling on the Government to change the way that women’s rough sleeping is recognised, counted and responded to: 

• Make homelessness policies gender-informed: Current rough sleeping definitions, strategies and practices are based predominantly on the experiences of men. The government should use the findings from the census to ensure its policy and guidance are gender-informed and provide an equitable response to those who are rough sleeping.
• Resource and lead the women’s rough sleeping census: The Government should lead the women’s rough sleeping census, supporting every local authority in England to conduct it annually.
• Conduct an equalities impact assessment: All government data collected on rough sleeping should be subject to an equalities impact assessment to ensure that data collection methods are inclusive of women and minoritised groups.

Download the full National Report here:

This work could not have been done without a number of organisations and the local authority in Leeds working together in Leeds, a partnership  forged over many years of addressing homelessness in Leeds, amongst others thanks to the ongoing support from the Frontline Network whose funding allowed us to set up the Women’s Homelessness and Housing Frontline Network and the help of Homeless Link and Solace Aid. The Census has already established further partnership working and resources to address some of the issues raised in Leeds. If you’d like to find out more how you can be involved on addressing this topic as a practitioner, manager or policy worker in Leeds, please get in touch:

Amber Wilson

Business Development Manager

Amber.wilson@basisyorkshire.org.uk